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Spectacular sunbursts, vintage tints and head-turning modern colors: ColorTone concentrated stains mix with virtually any finish, and are formulated specifically for luthiers.

They're accurate and authentic stringed instrument colors, as researched and specified by our own guitar finishing experts—not the generic furniture colors you'll find at other suppliers.

These concentrated grain-enhancing stains are economical; a little goes a long way. Reduce them with alcohol or water to give bare wood beautiful fade-resistant color, without hiding the grain. They're versatile, too. For applying transparent color-tinted coats, ColorTone stains can be mixed directly into virtually any finish: nitrocellulose lacquer, shellac, waterbase finishes, and catalyzed varnishes or lacquers.

Available in 2-ounce bottles, in the most popular stringed instrument colors. SAVE when you order the set of all ten!

Trade Secrets! Newsletter

We've watched Dan Erlewine repair this 1930s Kay over the previous 3 Trade Secrets. It's time to finish it up. Elliot John-Conry of EJC Guitars ages Dan's patch of new plastic binding so it blends in with the old binding around it.
About the guitar in this video: This 1930s Kay Deluxe is a fixer-upper that Dan Erlewine repaired in order to sell. Now that it's in great shape again, maybe Dan'll keep it!

Trade Secrets! Newsletter

Working on an aged Les Paul, Erick Coleman has to sand part of the yellowed binding. The sanded spots are a glaring white mismatch. Erick makes turns the repair invisible with a little ColorTone spray and stain.

panthers breath red

I was very pleased with the results i got from this product. Mixed it a little lighter than suggested and kept applying until i got the color i wanted [bout 7 coats]. Oh ya and since i didn't have any denatured alcohol on hand i used moonshine, worked great and lends to a better story!I'll definitely use it again!

Good color match, but.....

I have found that this stain doesn't mix well with lacquer causing blotching and uneven drying. As a rub on stain it is ideal, but make sure you allow ample drying time or the lacquer top coat will pull it out of the wood causing inconsistency in color. Perhaps better instructions on bottle would make this a more user friendly product.

Just what I needed

I'm using the ColorTone Vintage Amber to finish Fender style necks. I mix a few drops of dye with a cup or so of denatured alcohol and apply it with a foam brush. Lightly sand with 600 grit sandpaper after the first coat then apply a second a second coat to even it out. After the second coat is dry I clear coat it with gloss nitro and it looks like an old Fender neck. Just what I needed!

Excellent Stains

This was only my second guitar build and the first time using liquid stains under a clear coat. I learnt a bunch from this build and the stains were very easy to use with excellent coverage diluted in methylated spirits. This body received lemon stain under orange on the front and black for the back.

Orange is sweet

I used this on a guitar that had a top made of pyjinma wood, an asian wood. It's naturally a brown color, so staining could be problematic. Plus, the wood is very hard and dense. I wiped the stain on and it covered very well. One bad thing doing this - the lacquer reacts with the stain and caused large areas of finish crazing, which had to be sanded off and restained and repainted.

Great stains, okay bottles

I've achieved brilliant results with these stains, but I do not like the bottles. My advice is to poke a hole in the tip with a sewing needle, to allow for more controlled drips. If you snip the tip with scissors, the opening is much too wide and the stain gushes out too freely; you can end up making an awful (and very permanent) mess, waste a lot of precious stain, and screw up delicate color mixes. Love the stains, but I wish the bottles had finer tips.

Amber Yellow - Tobacco Brown

Went on a bit orange for me diluted at normal concentration. Maybe it had something to due with my guitar top or the old finish. I tried it on some scrap spruce before hand and it looked nice. Just wear rubber gloves as it stains hands too! Tobacco brown is awesome and shows wood figure well. My pic is of my guitar's back in tobacco.